Gloucester hospital to expand

Matt Sabo, msabo@dailypress.com | 757-247-7872

GLOUCESTER — Riverside Walter Reed Hospital is poised to build a 12,000-square-foot intensive care unit at a cost of $5 million that will be nearly four times the size of its existing critical care facility.

The hospital, which serves a regional population of 80,000 residents in the lower Middle Peninsula and lower Northern Neck, is also building a family care center, where patients' families can stay.

The intensive care unit construction marks the hospital's largest expansion since 2004, when its cancer center opened. The project will increase the number of critical care patient rooms from seven to eight and includes four "universal patient care" rooms. These are designed to serve as intensive care unit or medical and surgical "step-down" rooms, said Angie Healy, a spokeswoman for the hospital.

"It gives us more flexibility," Healy said. "When we have more critical care patients, we can use them for that."

The newly constructed intensive care rooms will be more than double the size of the current ones.

Healy called the planned J. Doswell Dutton Family Care Center a "waiting room on steroids." It will comprise 900 to 1,000 square feet and have amenities, such as a kitchenette, private consultation room, fireplace, wireless Internet access, a full bathroom with shower and a neighboring chapel.

"People will be able to be much more comfortable," Healy said.

The family care center's $200,000 cost was covered entirely by community donations and a $100,000 bequest from J. Doswell Dutton, a former prominent Gloucester businessman who owned Dutton Hardware for 43 years. Dutton died in 1997 and his wife, Annie Dutton, died in 2008.

The hospital received the J. Doswell Dutton monetary gift in 2009 and used it to establish the hospital's "Make a Difference Fund," which was tapped to build the family care center.

Hospital Administrator Megan Kleckner said using community donations to fund a family care center is a dream for most hospitals, but became a reality at Riverside Walter Reed.

"This is possible solely because of the generosity of the community," Kleckner said.

A groundbreaking for the projects will be held Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. on the Riverside campus. Completion is scheduled for November, Healy said.